Description:
Gerard Straub's prose and life resonate with Thomas Merton's texts. This book befriends Merton's own searching for God. Straub and Merton sing together, adding their voices to the chorus of God's beloved community in Haiti.
Brief description: Gerard Thomas Straub is a filmmaker and award-winning author who left a successful TV career producing TV dramas on NBC, CBS, and ABC to put the power of film at the service of those experiencing severe, unjust poverty. Filming in some of the worst slums on earth, he gave the poor and the marginalized a voice and introduced viewers to caregivers who chose to love them. In May 2015, Gerry put down the camera and relocated to Haiti, where he founded Santa Chiara Children's Center for abandoned and abused children.He has shown heart-breaking scenes of his films during his "Poverty & Prayer" presentations at over 260 Catholic churches, high schools, and universities in the United States and Europe. His book, The Sun & Moon Over Assisi, was named the Best Spirituality Hardcover Book of the Year in 2001 by the Catholic Press Association.Gerry's resumé includes teaching at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, three honorary doctorates, 24 documentary films, and 12 books, including The Sunrise of the Soul and The Loneliness and Longing of Saint Francis. He splits his time between Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Vero Beach, Florida.
Review Quotes:
"The power of contemplation and action to beacon hope for our world's dark journeys shines out in Gerry Straub's fascinating tale of his adventures in Haiti as the founder of the Santa Chiara Children's Center. Merton would have been avid to read the story of this married, secular Franciscan who gave up a New York media career to serve the poor. Gerry's witness in this book would have mentored Merton on how faith in action can triumph in hiding over despair and violence."
-Guerric Heckel, OCSO, Director of St. Francis Retreat Center at Mepkin Abbey, South Carolina